Gull Lake sees unlikely state tourney run fall short in baseball state semifinals

EAST LANSING — Gull Lake's unlikely miracle run to the Final Four came to an end.

The Blue Devils fell short of its first trip to the state finals as No. 15-ranked Spring Lake defeated Gull Lake, 5-2, in a Division 2 state semifinal in baseball action at McLane Stadium on the campus of Michigan State University on Friday.

The unranked Blue Devils, who finished sixth in their own conference, got hot at the right time and rolled through districts and regionals to earn a spot on the big stage in East Lansing. But, once there, some of the magic faded as Gull Lake ran into a state-ranked Spring Lake squad.

"Playoff runs can be a weird thing, and when you start feeling it, good things can happen and these guys felt it," Gull Lake coach Reggie Walters said. "It's been an absolute awesome ride to get here. They have wanted to be great, and they have been great. It's been a fun time to make this run... but, it just didn't happen for us today."

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In the school's first state semifinal since 2015, and fourth overall in program history, Gull Lake made a bid to advance to the first state final in baseball for the school as Blue Devil starting pitcher Julian Harris was dominant early. The first six outs Harris recorded were by strikeout as he recorded eight overall, lasting four innings, leaving with the Blue Devils down 2-0.

"Only throwing four games before this, I wasn't 100%, but thought I was good enough to go out there and help my team," said Harris, who returned to pitch at the start of district play after playing in the field during the regular season due an injury to his pitching shoulder. "It was a tight game for a second there. Thought we battled there for a while, and overall, it was a hard fought game.

"To be one of the only Gull Lake teams to do this is super cool. To be here was spectacular, but we just fell short."

Harris, who has committed to play at Western Michigan University, left the game in the fifth. Spring Lake scored four runs in the fifth inning and went up 5-0. From there, Spring Lake pitcher Zane Stahl, a 6-foot-7 junior who has committed to play at Louisville, went on to earn the complete-game win, scattering five hits and giving up two earned runs and striking out eight.

"It was a plus-arm on the mound for the other team," Walters said. "So, when you are facing a plus-arm, you have to minimize mistakes and we just made too many mistakes. But our guys battled against him."

Spring Lake started the game by scratching across an unearned run in the first inning to lead 1-0, which is where the score stood until the fourth.

An RBI single by Spring Lake's Jaden Core made it 2-0 to knock Gull Lake's Harris out of the game. Two batters later, a wild pitch allowed another run to score for a 3-0 lead. Then, with the Gull Lake infield in and runners on second and third, a high bouncer got over the second baseman's head and Spring Lake scored two more for the 5-0 lead.

Gull Lake broke through in the sixth, starting a would-be rally with a walk before Evan Kaiser hit a fly ball deep to left that the Spring Lake outfielder couldn't handle to put runners on second and third. Brendan Tanner then ripped a single through the infield for the first Gull Lake run. But, with two men on and one out, Spring Lake turned a double play to end the threat.

The Blue Devils added a run in the seventh on an RBI on a fielder's choice by Max Markham, to make it 5-2, but the Blue Devils wouldn't get any closer.

Spring Lake (32-9) advances to face No. 1-ranked Flint Powers Catholic in the state title game on Saturday.

Gull Lake finishes the season at 26-12.

"Being in the Final Four was fantastic," Walters said. "It's been a while since we have done this. So to have a program that gets here and do this, it shows something to our young guys. The younger guys in the program see this and it gives us higher goals going forward."

Contact Bill Broderick at bbroderi@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on X/Twitter @billbroderick.

This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: Gull Lake loses to No. 15 Spring Lake in baseball state semifinals